Bac-2-the-Future: An Improved System for Production of Recombinant Baculovirus

Baculoviruses have been used for decades to produce proteins in insect cell hosts. Current systems for generating recombinant baculovirus have several shortcomings which prevent their easy use in high-throughput applications. 

Researchers within the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research have developed an improved system called Bac-2-the-future, or B2F, to quickly and efficiently generate recombinant baculoviruses which produce recombinant proteins. In the new system, the baculovirus transfer vector, transposition helper plasmid, and E. coli strain carrying the bacmid DNA were modified to eliminate the need for screening positive clones and improve the efficiency of baculovirus production. Taken together, these improvements permit facile high-throughput recombinant baculovirus production at reduced cost and improved speed over the currently available systems.  The new transfer vectors and E. coli strains of the B2F system are available for licensing.  

Competitive Advantages:

• Elimination of background plasmid DNA during recombinant baculovirus production
• Elimination of nonproductive transposition events leading to false positives
• Lower cost production of baculovirus
• Increased speed of baculovirus production (allowing high-throughput production with limited screening)
• Higher efficiency cloning of baculovirus constructs

Commercial Applications:

• High-throughput protein production
• Generation of virus-like particles in insect cells